Aaron Donald’s possible NFL return gets mixed reviews from Hall of Famers

 

 

CANTON, Ohio – Take it from some of the greatest. Just the thought that Aaron Donald might come out of retirement and rejoin the Los Angeles Rams is some kind of stunning.

Donald, 35, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year who retired after the 2023 season, is contemplating a return that would allow him to join forces with Myles Garrett, the reigning recipient of the top defensive honor.

The NFL universe is buzzing for a final answer from Donald, one of the greatest defensive tackles in history. Maybe a decision will come this week, about a month shy of Week 1.

“If I had another force on the defensive line like an Aaron Donald or a Myles Garrett, I’d come back, too,” Bruce Smith, the NFL’s all-time career sack leader, told USA TODAY Sports.

“It’s not going to be easy, taking (nearly) three years off and coming back,” Smith added. “I’m sure there will be some challenges to work through. I wish him all the best.”

Hall of Famers react to Aaron Donald’s possible return

It sure was a hot topic surrounding the christening of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026, when a record 120 Hall of Famers returned to take part in festivities.

And you can’t find a better collection of experts to weigh in on expectations and relate to the potential challenge for Donald. I mean, if anybody can relate…

Listen to Mean Joe Greene, who knows a thing or two about playing defensive tackle at an elite level. Greene was the centerpiece of the Steel Curtain defense that led the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl victories during the 1970s.

Greene loved watching Donald wreak so much havoc over the course of his 10-year career and puts him in a small number of D-tackles who raised the bar on the position.

“Some of the things he did for a lot of years, it became natural to him,” Greene told USA TODAY Sports.

Then Greene, 79, used his hands to add emphasis, demonstrating some of the movement that aided the techniques Donald used to collect 111 career sacks.

“Bam, bam, bam,” Greene said as he flicked his hands. “And right now, being out of it for a long time, it’s hard to imagine him going back to pick it up, those finer things that made the difference for him.”

No, as dominant as Donald was – destined to be a first-ballot selection for a Hall of Fame bust – the great ones warn that a comeback to previous form is hardly automatic.

“If he wants to come back, more power to him,” Greene said. “He was at a level that no interior guy was at. That could be hard to reach again. That’s mostly in the passing game, but he could handle his own in the run game, because of his leverage, balance and quickness. And his understanding of balance. He has to have some understanding of that. But that’s fine-tuning now.”

Warren Sapp is a skeptic

The conditions seem so ripe for Donald to succeed. The Rams are a deep team installed as the preseason favorite to win Super Bowl 61. Landing Garrett was just one of the big offseason moves (they obtained All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs, too) to bolster a unit that complements Sean McVay’s high-powered offense, armed by reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. And with Garrett, who set the NFL single-season record in 2025 with 23 sacks, the pass-rushing tandem including Donald would formulate a matchup nightmare for opponents.

Still, not everyone is sold.

“Good luck. Good luck, Aaron,” Warren Sapp told USA TODAY Sports.

Sapp, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year who led a defense that carried the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl 37 crown, posted 10 sacks at 34 years old in 2006.

“I want to see it,” Sapp said of Donald’s potential return. “That’s why we play this game. I ain’t got (crap) to say. It’s on him. I want to see it.”

The toughest factor attached to a potential comeback for Donald?

Sapp, who posted 96 ½ career sacks as a defensive tackle by typically complementing his power with uncanny quickness, glared straight ahead at his inquisitor.

“You heard me before, didn’t you?” Sapp said. “I said two words: Good luck.”

Sapp, who played 13 NFL seasons with the Bucs and Oakland Raiders, chuckled when asked if he could imagine himself coming out of retirement a couple years after leaving the game.

“That’s why you retire,” Sapp said. “You make that choice. You look at the landscape. I had won 15 games in four years in Oakland. I was in the JaMarcus Russell era. Lane Kiffen was there.”

Then he let out a hearty laugh and added, “I’m going home.”

Aaron Donald health history a factor

Of course, no two bodies are alike. Donald’s prowess as a workout warrior was part of his legend, and he missed just eight games (over three seasons) during his career.

And even in retirement, Donald has gone viral with workout videos.

“Hey, he left the game unhurt,” Charles Haley, the five-time Super Bowl winner, told USA TODAY Sports. “If it’s in his heart to come back, with the passion, then he should do it.”

It’s striking that Haley mentioned heart. Passion was undeniably a calling card for Haley, a ferocious edge rusher who significantly shifted the power balance in the NFC when he was traded from the San Francisco 49ers (two Super Bowl rings) to the Dallas Cowboys (three rings) in 1992.

Yet ultimately, Haley’s body gave out. As much as he may have wanted to play, there was never even a hint of a comeback after he finished his 13-year career.

“For me, it was all different because I had back issues,” said Haley, who holds a share of the career record for Super Bowl sacks. “So, it would have been really hard for me to come back. But he left at the top of his game. He’s coming back on top.”

Maybe. Greene thinks that given the layoff, the timing for Donald’s decision is critical.

“He needs to be in training camp,” Greene said. “He can’t cheat his body by not being out there. If he’s not lining up at the position and doing it…you’ve got to do it to get it. You can’t fake acting. You can’t fake that.”

Greene, who worked as a Steelers scout after his playing days, seemed wistful as he recalled the pass-rush – and footwork – that Donald used to seal the Rams’ Super Bowl 56 triumph against the Cincinnati Bengals. Donald blew off the line at the snap on a fourth-and-one in the final minute to force a harried (and hurried) Joe Burrow incompletion.

“He needs to be in camp, going through the gyrations of making the movement that allowed that on the last play of the game,” said Greene. “He doesn’t have to go full speed, but he has to see it and visualize it. His mind can help him out on that.”

Smith, meanwhile, acknowledges Donald’s last big decision on retirement.

“He should have never left,” Smith said. “He was at the peak of his career.”

But that was then. This is now. Suddenly, Donald could become one of the most compelling storylines of a new NFL season. And we’ll all be watching.

“And talking (crap) about it,” Sapp said. “He gives us (stuff) to talk about. I appreciate it.”

The Rams will hope for much more than talk if Donald comes out of retirement for a Super Bowl mission – and another layer of legend for his remarkable career.

Follow Bell on X: @JarrettBell